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Bavaria urges the federal government to make it easier to shoot wolves

If Bavaria has its way, wolves belong back in hunting law. So far, regulations at federal and EU level have prevented this. Bavaria wants to build up pressure with a vote in the Bundesrat.

Two wolf pups standing in a field. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de
Two wolf pups standing in a field. Photo.aussiedlerbote.de

Nature conservation - Bavaria urges the federal government to make it easier to shoot wolves

Bavaria wants to use a motion in the Bundesrat to urge the federal government to make it easier to shoot wolves in Germany. "The federal government has a duty here to create the legal basis by classifying the wolf in a favorable conservation status," said Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), the Minister of Economic Affairs responsible for hunting, on Tuesday after the cabinet meeting in Munich. He referred to other European countries such as Sweden, where wolves are hunted "although the population there is significantly lower with a larger land area".

Bavaria has long been calling for a different approach to wolves, which were previously considered strictly protected. "Here, the federal government is ideologically standing in the way of pragmatic solutions in the interests of agriculture," emphasized Aiwanger. In its Bundesrat motion, the Free State also calls on the federal government to advocate a lower protection status for wolves at EU level.

"So far, not a single wolf has been taken in Bavaria due to a regulation, because it has always been legally prevented," said Aiwanger. The federal government must transpose EU nature conservation law into national law so that regionally differentiated population management is possible in Germany. This would facilitate the removal of wolves. The initiative is to be submitted to the Bundesrat this week.

At the conference of environment ministers in Münster at the beginning of December, the federal and state governments had actually agreed on simpler options for shooting wolves. Bavaria had also agreed to the proposals of Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens), but at the same time criticized that the regulations did not go far enough.

Specifically, the resolution of the Conference of Environment Ministers (UMK) requires that wolves must have killed livestock despite the existence of herd protection measures such as fences before they can be shot. In addition, the federal states are to be able to define certain regions with an increased number of wolf killings, in which a DNA analysis does not have to be awaited before shooting.

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Source: www.stern.de

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